We, pagonas, are very unique. We have normal left and right eyes with eyelids like other animals. However, we also have a third or solar eye on the top of our head. It is a true eye but with no eyelids and instead of communicating with the optic center of the brain, it sends signals to the pineal gland, My special eye measures the photoperiod of light in my environment. My entire body functions are regulated by my special eye sensing if the sun is out or not and for how many hours.

My pineal eye can sense ultrared and ulvtraviolet light so if my human servants leave the red light on at night, I can see it and not sleep well. Sometimes I can crawl under a log or rock for darkness but it is better to shut the red light off and use a ceramic heater for warmth.

Ahhh. Time to relax and watch a movie. Casablanca is my favorite. Here’s looking at you, kid.

Ah, time for dinner. Most humans have the idea that my relatives and I only need crickets to eat. We DO like crickets but they are not a balanced diet. Assume that all you could eat is chocolate cake. At first this may be great but soon serious diseases can start to occur. Nutritional secondary parathyroidism is very common in Pogonas that have a calcium deficiency. Most people buy crickets from the store and feed them to us right away. Theses crickets are usually starved themselves and have very little nutritional value. Many are full of parasites that are past to us. It is best to place the crickets in a plastic tub and add chicken layer scratch for them to feed on. Scratch is for chickens that lay eggs and is very high in calcium. Gut loading crickets this way provides a much higher calcium level than by traditional dusting.

At birth, Pogonas need a diet of 90% protein and 10% vegetables. Gut loaded crickets, meal worms, waxworms, and roaches work well but also offer small amounts of shredded mixed vegetable salad. At 1 year-old, the diet should be 50% animal 50% vegetable. At 2-3 years old, feed 90% vegetable matter. Give insects only 1-2 times per month.

A wide variety of vegetables can be offered. Any dark green leafy plant, carrots, bell peppers, tomatoes, beans and peas are some options. Calcium powder should be added to the salad also. Bearded dragons really don’t need other supplements other than a good diet and calcium.

Oh, the waiter is here to take my order. I will have the house salad as an appetizer, the vegetable and fruit plate for my entrée and finish with a chilled waxworm for dessert. Oh, and a glass of Chardonnay. Bon appetit!!

Hi! This is Lily again. I am currently basking under my heat lamp at Sawnee Animal Clinic.

My cousins and I LOVE the sun. We are diurnal which means that we get up in the morning, are active during the day and sleep at night. (Much like you humans but without the coffee.) Since I am a modified ectotherm, I need the sun to warm up and become active. I can control my body temperature some by behavior modification. Basking in direct sunlight and orienting my body toward the heat warms me up. Hiding and panting cools me down. Most people don’t realize that I can lower my body temperature to BELOW the surrounding air temperature. By using body positioning, I can keep my internal temperature within a narrow range. My human servants sometimes worry about me getting too hot but this is very rare. I can get too COLD especially at night when most of the lights are shut off.

Having a ceramic heater is the best thing for heating rather than a red light. I can see light in the ultraviolet and red band spectrum so the red light is still visible to me. It is hard to sleep with that thing on at night. A ceramic heater produces a consistent heat without light or places that might burn me like a “hot rock”.

I don’t need much water to drink either. In Australia, rainfall is very sporadic. In the wild, pogonas go for several days without water. My human servants really only need to give me water every 3-4 days and this frequency helps to keep humidity low. I do love to take water soaks though.Soaking helps my digestive system.

Hi, I’m Lily the lizard residing in the lobby of Sawnee Animal Clinic. My Latin genius name is Pogona but you probable know me as a bearded dragon. I have become the most popular reptile pet in America. All of my ancestors came from several regions in Australia covering most of the continent. Each area is a little different and, therefore, so are we but all are arid so we like it hot and dry.Australia closed its exportation of Pogonas in the 1980’s and some animals were smuggled out.All animals today are the result of crossbreeding two to six different subspecies of those individuals.One ancestor, Pogona barbata, had a lot of yellow pigment in its mouth so any Pogona today with the same characteristic has at least some P. barbata bloodline. Unfortunately, you can’t guess how much P. barbata is present based on the amount of yellow pigment.

A common issue many dog owners face, especially during the summer months, is noise aversion or noise anxiety in their dogs. By noise aversion, we mean the

It is surprisingly more common than many think but because it is episodic in nature, it is only on the forefront of pet owners’ minds when it is an immediate or impending problem. Therefore, there have been few medical advances in how to deal with dogs that suffer from noise aversion and the behavioral problems it creates. That being said, Zoetis did just release a new drug specifically for noise aversion called, Sileo.

Sileo is made with dexdomitor, which is usually used for sedation and anesthesia but has been made into a gel form. So instead of having to pill your dog with acepromazine or trazadone and wait an hour for the pills to kick in, Sileo is a gel that is applied to and absorbed through the gums of your dog. It takes about 30 minutes to kick in and helps your dog to stay calm during loud noise events. What it does is it inhibits norepinephrine (or norarenalin). Norepinephrine is a brain chemical involved in the fight-or-flight part of the nervous system, it is associated with anxiety and fear response. By inhibiting it, your dog should become less over stimulated and fearful during loud noise events. The current research shows very few side effects but when there are some, the most common ones seen are vomiting and lowered heart rate.

While many are excited to hear that a new drug has come out specifically designed to help their dogs deal with their noise anxiety, others have been wary of its cure-all image. Some dog owners prefer to stick with all-natural supplements to deal with noise aversion such as Ewegurt, thundervests, and specialized collars, however, when a dog truly suffers from severe noise aversion these alternatives can really fall short. Therefore, it really comes down to the dog owner and what they are comfortable with and what their vet thinks is appropriate.

At the end of the day, noise aversion is still a fairly under-researched issue and many of our veterinary treatments for it address the symptoms not the root cause, thus the underlying fear remains untreated.